Controversy has surrounded on of the top three Living Goddesses of Nepal since she broke with tradition and traveled overseas to help promote a British documentary about her life.

Ten-year-old Sajani Shakya returned to Kathmandu on July 18th to a rapturous reception by family and worshipers alike. As of Friday, July 20th, the authorities have said they are reconsidering their threat to strip her of her title.

Sajani was chosen to be a Living Goddess when she was 2-years-old. She will remain one until she reaches puberty. They are considered virgin goddesses.

Under the living goddess tradition followed for centuries in the three ancient cities in the Kathmandu valley, young girls are selected by priests to serve as incarnations of Kali, the Hindu goddess of power.

They remain in their “divine” role until menstruation when they must retire and rejoin the family. A new girl is then chosen.

In Bhaktapur, Sajani lives a normal life with her parents in the house a few paces from the historic Durbar Square among narrow streets paved with red bricks.

“I have been fortunate to have her selected as the Kumari,” her 43-year-old father Nuchhe Ratna Shakya said, sitting on a bench in the inner courtyard of a two-storey brick-and-wood house in the old quarter of Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu.

“It has brought good fortune and luck to the family. We feel great about her,” said Shakya, who says he managed to get a job in a biscuit factory after his daughter was selected.

There are other living goddesses in Nepal.

The main Kumari lives in an ancient temple in Kathmandu and sticks to tighter religious schedules than her counterparts in Bhaktapur and the neighbouring town of Patan, which also has its own virgin goddess.

Of course, Western human rights activists are trying to pressure Nepal to stop this tradition citing that it abuses the girls’ human rights. No one in Nepal seems to be complaining, including the girls and their families.

She lives a normal little girl’s life, other than the yearly two-week festival in which she is carried around on a throne that rests on the images of two lions and people worship her and she blesses them. She plays with her brothers and sisters, likes instant noodles and biscuits and plays with toys and dolls.

She’s completely unaware of the controversy surrounding her trip. Instead, she is excitedly showing pictures and telling stories about her grand trip to foreign lands.

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Related: One of Nepal’s Living Goddesses Losses Her Status See more images of Sajani at this link.

More on Nepal’s Living Goddess

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